"We must eat our lollipops with the wrappers on" is the latest in a series of great titles from one of South Africa’s most controversial and provocative choreographers/ performance artists. Others have included "If you can’t change the world change your curtains", "If the whole population of China jumped up and down at the same time, the earth would move" and "With astonishment I note the Dog".

It's actually a serious subject though, the work dealing with the war against AIDS. The 'lollipops' of the title is a methaphor for condoms.

The work is danced by the City Theater and Dance Group from Johannesburg, which claims to be the first theatre in South Africa that broke the apartheid laws by putting blacks and whites on the same stage together.

Birmingham Rep, 16 and 17 May at 7.30.

Let us know what you think. And has anyone already seen this? I know the work is three or four years old.

Introducing a post-performance discussion, David Massingham, Festival Co-Artistic Director, said, “I wanted to find something for International Dance Festival Birmingham that dealt with current issues; that helped dissolve the myth that dance is just about beautiful bodies making amazing shapes.” He certain did that.

Robyn Orlin doesn’t pull any punches as she and her amazing dancers wade into the AIDS/HIV issue. The lollipops of the title are a metaphor for condoms, and the message is pretty simple: use condoms for safer sex. Yet the show is far from a sermon and it doesn’t suggest a solution. Rather it is a commentary on the South African experience and as such reflects that country’s spirit, passion and dreams through the use of traditional of song and dance.

Orlin makes the point that the issue concerns everyone, not just the cast or those in far off South Africa, by involving the audience from the very beginning. As everyone enters the auditorium they are greeted by the dancers in the aisles offering lollipops from red buckets that later double as drums and seats. The choice of red is a deliberate, symbolising blood and lives lost.

The work mixes song, dance and theatre to great effect. One dancer slowly takes the wrappers of a handful of sugar lollipops, sucks them, then presses them against various parts of his body. Later he encourages some into the front row to suck them before putting them in his own mouth: an unusual but very effective demonstration of the threat. We see a woman in pain and dying because of a lack of medicine. One of the men, as all the cast in a woman’s frock, tells us how s(h)e is going to go out and 'have a good time' with as many young men as she can find before she dies. The shoes of some of the audience are borrowed and placed on the stage in the shape of an AIDS ribbon, a poignant reference to those no longer with us. The final scene sees the case covering themselves in what look like huge table cloths with blow up balloons, complete with smiling faces painted on them, on their heads. It was both very funny and very disturbing all at the same time.

But that is Orlin’s genius. She keeps us thinking, even worrying about what we are seeing and experiencing, while on another level giving us a show we can enjoy. The message is very much that, yes, this is a huge problem, but that equally we must not let is extinguish our spirit. As one of the dancers said afterwards, just like apartheid, it is a problem that can be overcome.

All this was accompanied by live projections of the audience and cast that run throughout the show. Such camerawork can often be distracting but here it only served to draw you closer into what was happening on stage. At one point some of the audience even became part of the show as close ups of their faces were projected onto white cloths held in front of two performer's faces.

Don’t let the theme or subject matter put you off. Yes, “Lollipops” is a show that makes you think, and it will rattle a few. But it is full of humour and in a strange way, full of hope and rather uplifting.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum